India is ready to resume its e-visa facility for UK nationals travelling to the country for the first time since the Covid outbreak. The move comes at a time when the country is gearing up for the holiday season.
Vikram K Doraiswami, High Commissioner to the UK, said in a video posted by the High Commission of India in London, We are rolling out e-visas again and this service will be made available to friends from the UK to travel more easily to India. So welcome back, e-visas are up ahead and all of our other services including visa at your doorstep are available to you. We look forward to a good winter season in which everyone can celebrate their festivals in India, which is the land of festivals. The visa website will be ready to receive applications from friends in the UK, and the system upgrade is underway, according to the tweet.
According to reports, e-visas were among the issues discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart Rishi Sunak during their meeting on the sidelines of the G 20 Summit in Indonesia last month.
In November, Rishi Sunak gave a go-ahead for 3,000 visas for young professionals from India to work in the UK each year.
The British government said India is the first country to benefit from a visa-national migration and mobility partnership between the UK and India last year.
The UK Prime Minister's Office said today that the UK-India Young Professionals Scheme has confirmed 3,000 places for 18-30 year old degree-educated Indian nationals to come to the UK to live and work for up to two years.